Chapter 284 – Life 76, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

My eyes shot open, and I looked around in a mix of intense panic and confusion.

I was… safe…

I was in my tiny house in the Su Clan. Everything was…

I jumped to my feet, flung open the door of my house, and stared up at the sky.

It was… fine… The sky was a brilliant blue with not a cloud in sight.

After taking a few deep breaths, I reentered my house and sat down.

What had happened? Everything had been too quick, and my mind had been so wracked with panic that I had barely been able to comprehend what was even happening.

Turning my senses inward, I let out a sigh of relief. The ever-present sense of nervousness and agitation that had been consuming me over the past few decades had vanished. The momentous event that my affinity for karmic energy had been warning me about had come and gone.

But… what happened?

I had been standing in a courtyard. Hundreds of people began appearing around me. Lightning started crashing down around us. Then, the Earthly Dao showed up and killed me.

Why?

I needed to know.

I knew that my chances of getting any real answers from the System were non-existent. Whatever forces were involved in that ‘event’ were so far beyond me that I doubted I could even afford the cost of knowing just the price of an answer to even a single question.

Still… I needed something. I needed to understand something.

In the past, I had always done my best to just keep moving forward. Eventually, everything would be revealed. There was no reason to fixate on immediate answers.

This time? How could I just move on?

But… What could I ask? What questions might provide me with the answers I needed?

I took several deep breaths.

I didn’t know. That was fine… I could start by asking a few questions to get my bearings.

“System, what—”

Suddenly, a tall figure appeared and loomed over me.

It was the being that, only moments ago, had shoved its hand through my chest. It was the incarnation of the Earthly Dao.

Previously, the incarnation had always had an otherworldly aura about it that made it feel like it didn’t truly belong in this world. Looking at the incarnation now, that aura seemed greatly diminished.

I lifted my head and looked the incarnation in the eye.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the incarnation lifted a palm to stop me. I pressed on and tried to say something, but no words could escape my lips.

“Do not speak. I will not answer any questions. I am only here because your actions have drawn the attention of the Eternal Dao, and I have been ordered to provide you with certain information that it feels you are entitled to know.”

Instinctively, I tried to ask a question like ‘What is the Eternal Dao?’ but no words came out.

“Due to your recent actions, the ‘storage space’ in your soul has evolved into a true world. At the moment, it can only be considered a Rank 1 Small World, but it has begun developing its own Laws of Heaven and Earth. It has begun to form a nascent Dao. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue, but because of your choices, this new world is outside the aegis of any existing Heavenly or Earthly Dao. It is… independent.”

The incarnation’s tone gave me the impression that it was both disgusted and happy about this development.

“As this world exists in your soul, as you were responsible for its creation, and as you are in near complete control of it, the Eternal Dao has decreed that you will be responsible for its growth and development. As such, there are things you must know.”

The incarnation held up a finger. “One, to grow in Rank, your world must absorb new Laws. At the moment, your world’s Laws of Heaven and Earth contain only the most basic of earth Laws. To advance to Rank 2, you must both strengthen its earth Laws and create a connection to one additional set of Laws.”

It held up a second finger. “Two, as an independent Small World, your world is not controlled by an Earthly Dao, but it does not yet have a will of its own. It is governed only by simple, unthinking Laws. As the entity responsible for the development of this world, you will be responsible for choosing which Laws to introduce to it and the order in which you introduce them. Your choices will have consequences.”

The incarnation held up a third finger. “Three, after each advancement, the maximum size of your world will be set to ten times whatever size it was prior to advancing. Previously, your world was 1 cubic kilometer, so its current maximum size is 10 cubic kilometers.”

The incarnation glared at me. “If you grow your world to 10 cubic kilometers, then upon advancing to Rank 2, its maximum size will be 100 cubic kilometers. However, if you only grow it to 5 cubic kilometers, then after it advances, its maximum size will only be 50. Advancing early like this will permanently reduce the maximum size of this new world. At Rank 3, its maximum possible size would only be 500 cubic kilometers instead of 1,000.”

After staring at me intently for several long moments, the incarnation flicked the three fingers it was holding up in a dismissive gesture.

“That is all.”

Mustering what energy I could, I forced myself to speak. “What—”

The incarnation held up a single finger to silence me.

“That is all the information I was ordered to convey. As I said, I will not answer any questions.” The incarnation stared at me. “However, I am willing to provide you with certain additional information that you might find useful. I cannot do this for free, though. That would be breaking the rules. So, how many credits are you willing to spend?”

I felt the urge to respond immediately. Part of me wanted to curse and yell at this entity that almost felt akin to a dark god, but I knew that doing so would have been the dumbest decision I could have possibly made, so I held my tongue.

I looked at the incarnation and tried to think through my answer.

It had offered me a chance to learn additional information. Not only did I personally want answers, but the fact that the incarnation had offered to provide them told me that it felt I needed them.

How much should I spend? My last death had earned me a trillion credits. Should I spend them all? Would it be worth it?

I looked at the incarnation’s single raised finger. Originally, it had raised an entire palm to silence me, but this time, it had raised only a single finger… Was that a message?

One. One what? Did it want me to spend one credit? 100? 1,000?

I closed my eyes and made my decision. “100 billion.”

The incarnation dropped its hand.

“The tribulation lightning you witnessed was not caused by your actions. It was caused by mine. If I had not intervened, your world would have advanced, and no one on this entire continent would have noticed a thing.”

If there was no danger, then why did you intervene?

I wanted to ask this, but I couldn’t speak. Thankfully, the incarnation either heard my thoughts, or more likely, it simply knew what I would want to ask.

“The advancement of your ‘storage space’ to the status of a Rank 1 Small World drew the attention of the Eternal Dao. On its own, this would not have been a problem. However, when the Eternal Dao focused on you, it caused the Heavenly Dao to turn its attention to you as well.”

The incarnation gritted its teeth. “Drawing the attention of the Heavenly Dao is not something that you can afford to do. Technically, the Heavenly Dao knows everything that happens within its domain, but its incarnations are not omniscient, and they can’t focus on everything all at once. Usually, they remain oblivious to what happens on Lower Worlds, but with the Eternal Dao involved…”

The incarnation closed its eyes momentarily. Then, they shot open, and its glare intensified.

“The tribulation clouds appeared because I teleported your people to you. The clouds were warning me to cease my interference. When I killed you, I violated the rules of the Heavenly Dao, and that iteration of myself was eradicated. This was… regrettable, but it had to be done. By escaping through time, we have evaded the notice of the Heavenly Dao’s incarnations, at least for now. However, the Heavenly Dao does know what happened. Its incarnations simply no longer know to focus on it. Do not draw their attention again.”

Silently, I nodded.

“That said, from now on, you should be able to advance your Small World without worry. Doing so will no longer draw the attention of the Eternal Dao, and thus, it will no longer draw the attention of the Heavenly Dao. Unless something unexpected occurs, there should be no cause for concern until your world is ready to advance to the status of Lower World.”

The incarnation clasped its hands behind its back. “To advance your world, you must infuse it with Laws. It first advanced to the status of Small World because you infused it with earth Laws. You should consider how you did this. You first filled it with rocks and soil. Then, you provided it with copious amounts of earth qi. These were both necessary steps, but they weren’t sufficient. Rocks and qi can help shape Laws, but they are not a source of Laws. Therefore, you should consider where these Laws originated.”

After saying this, the incarnation looked at me one last time, nodded, and then vanished.

Purchase Confirmed. Cost 100 billion credits. 909,646,657,644 credits remaining.

---------------------------------------------------

With the incarnation gone, I saw alone in my house and thought through what it had told me.

The information about the Eternal Dao was… beyond me. It was too much. I couldn’t allow myself to fixate on it.

Instead, I focused on the information about my storage space.

Advancing to the level of Rank 1 Small World meant that I could begin growing it again. I needed to grow it, and I needed to infuse it with ‘Laws.’

Growing my space further was the easy part, but it was also somewhat problematic. I would need to replace the Solid Mountain Fire with the Expanding Realms Fire. As a Martial Disciple, this would kill me. Of course, as this life had only barely begun, a quick death here wasn’t much of a problem. More important was the fact that removing the Solid Mountain Fire would cut off my storage space from its source of earth qi. Before doing this, I needed to speak with ShouLi and my leadership council.

Infusing my space with ‘Laws,’ though… How was I supposed to do that?

I had somehow already infused it with earth Laws. How?

“System…” I had an idea, but I was hesitant about it, unsure if I was right. “System, I have an ability that lets me analyze spirit fires and fire seeds. How much would it cost to upgrade this ability to show me information about Laws? I want to know… I want to know about the Laws contained in spirit fires and fire seeds… I want to know if my storage space has… absorbed them.”

Calculating… Cost 10 billion credits.

Slowly, I nodded. “Purchase.”

Purchase confirmed. 899,646,657,644 credits remaining.

I focused on the seed of the Solid Mountain Fire that was contained within my soul.

Solid Mountain Fire, Profound-Rank, Elements: Earth, Consumes: Energy, Produces: Earth Qi, Laws Absorbed: 34%

Nodding, I began examining a few of the other spirit fires and fire seeds that I had gathered over the years. From the information I received, it looked like only the actual fire seeds contained laws, and each fire seed seemed different.

Cold Mountain Fire, Yellow-Rank, Elements: Earth/Water, Consumes: Energy, Produces: Granite/Water, Laws Absorbed: 74%

Flowing Metal Fire, Yellow-Rank, Elements: Water/Metal, Consumes: Energy, Produces: Mercury, Laws Absorbed: 0%

Yellow Flood Dragon Fire, Profound-Rank, Elements: Earth/Water, Consumes: Matter, Produces: Demonic Earth Energy/Demonic Water Energy, Laws Absorbed: 12%

Expanding Realms Fire, Profound-Rank, Elements: Space, Consumes: Energy, Produces: Space, Laws Absorbed: 0%

The Flowing Metal Fire being at 0% was understandable. I hadn’t ever used it in conjunction with my storage space.

The Expanding Realms Fire being at 0% was disappointing. Did that mean I couldn’t use it to imbue my world with space Laws? If so, then I would need to find another source of such Laws.

The differences between the Solid Mountain, Cold Mountain, and Yellow Flood Dragon fires were interesting. All three were predominantly earth fire seeds. Why were they so different?

The only way I could make sense of it was to say that the majority of the earth Laws in the Solid Mountain and Yellow Flood Dragon fires were simply different. This meant that I would likely need to absorb Laws from both. As for why the percentage for the Cold Mountain Fire was so high? Likely, as a Yellow-Rank fire, it contained far fewer laws than the two Profound-Rank fires.

I had always considered fire seeds important, but these new insights into the nature of Laws made them vital. Even a random, worthless, Yellow-Rank fire seed might have additional Laws for me to absorb.

If I wanted to keep growing my storage space, I needed more fire seeds. I needed all of them.